Sun Tzu taught a set of powerful methods for winning constructively in competition. The Science of Strategy Institute's multiple award-winning work makes the strategy of The Art of War easier to use.
Read our daily article on Sun Tzu's Warrior's Rules to retrain your instinctive reactions to competitive situations. Learn all Sun Tzu's rules as we go through our publication schedule.
"On a level plateau, take a position that you can change."
Sun Tzu's The Art of War 9:1:22
When the ground has a distinctive form, we can know where its advantages and disadvantages are. Form is a valuable key for evaluating the potential of opportunities. When a given ground lacks a distinctive form, it is more difficult to know where its advantages and disadvantages lie. We have clear rules for how to evaluate and pursue opportunities on unequal, fast-changing, and uncertain ground. When the ground lacks any of these forms, we need a different set of rules. There is a danger in using the same rules for evaluating form on less distinguished ground.
Neutral ground is the most flexible form of ground for competition. Since Sun Tzu's system is based on our ability to adapt to situations, this form of ground gives us the most options. Unequal, fast-changing, and uncertain ground are dominated by forces that may give some positions an inherent advantage over others. We leverage the nature of the ground to our advantage. We can filter out opportunities that put us in a disadvantageous position of these forms of ground. On neutral ground, there a more types of advantageous positions. In many ways, it is the ideal ground for competition, but we still need to understand the rules for best utilizing it.
We need to understand the following rules to best utilize neutral ground.
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